COURSE DESCRIPTIONS: UNDERGRADUATE

FLC 101 / First Semester Chinese
Basic elements of modern Chinese (Mandarin), including the four tones, sentence structure and some Chinese characters. May not be taken by students who have taken language study courses in China. (4 credits)FLC 102 / Second Semester Chinese
Continuation of FLC 101. Prerequisite: FLC 101 or equivalent. May not be taken by students who have taken language study courses in China. (4 credits)FLC 203 / Intermediate Chinese I
Development of FLC 101 and 102, focusing on speaking, aural comprehension, reading and writing. Emphasis on drills and discussion of readings. Introduction of simplified characters and cursive script. Continuously increasing use of Chinese in class. Prerequisite: FLC 102 or permission of the instructor. (4 credits)FLC 204 / Intermediate Chinese II
Continuation of FLC 203, emphasizing development of speaking, aural comprehension, reading and writing. Includes readings from a variety of sources including contemporary Chinese short stories, lectures, and newspapers. Class sessions conducted in Chinese as much as possible. Prerequisite: FLC 203 or permission of the instructor. (4 credits)FLC 305 / Advanced Chinese I
Development of FLC 204. Emphasis on increasingly complex use of language. Develops skills in understanding authentic written andoral media as well as discourse-level speaking, and writting short texts. Prerequisite: FLC 204 or equivalent. (4 credits) FLC 306 / Advanced Chinese II
Continuation of FLC 305, stressing increased mastery of all four skills, with input from a variety of authentic sources both written and oral. Prerequisite: FLC 305 or equivalent. (4 credits)

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS: GRADUATE

CHST 531 - 532 / Modern Chinese in Mass Media
Our aim in the course is to become familiar with, discuss, and debate some of the economic, political, and cultural situations of the contemporary Chinese speaking-world through the modern mass media of newspapers, television, and film. During the first semester of this course, our entry point to these issues will be Chinese journalism (in print and on-line) and television broadcasts (news and interview shows), while in the second semester we will focus primarily on film. A secondary goal of this course is to train yourself to become effective managers of your own learning so that you will be able to function independently in Chinese culture in your future professional pursuits.CHST 607 - 608 / Intensified Fourth-Year Chinese I
The primary goal of this two-term course is to train students to be able to communicate with native speakers about your research and career interests in authentic and formal language. Our aim is to expand your rhetorical skills in speech and writing to accomplish the following high level communicative tasks in Chinese: maintain sustained discourse, provide complex explanations, state and defend opinions, make suggestions, and evaluate the arguments and claims of others. In the first semester of this course we will focus mainly on a sequence of essays from the Advanced Chinese textbook and mastering the rhetorical styles that each essay emphasizes (such as narration, description, persuasion, exposition, and lyrical expression). In the second semester we will read and discuss a selection of literary works (including poetry, short-stories, and drama) by some of the greatest Chinese writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. While students are helped to further improve command of structure and vocabulary in a range of language styles, the primary emphasis of this course is on reading comprehension and writing skills. The emphasis in this class on reading comprehension and writing skills complements Chinese Studies 531: Modern Chinese in Mass Media in which our primary activity will be the discussion and debate of contemporary issues.